The pressure around Nom-Nom shifted, fractures racing through the pillar of ice that had pinned her in place as fire surged on instinct, roaring outward until the ice finally gave way in a violent burst of shards and steam.
And as she staggered free, her world drowned.
Water slammed around her head like a living thing, compressing so hard it locked her jaw shut as pressure forced its way into her nose, her ears, her eyes, trying to fill her lungs before she could even scream, trying to shove through her ears.
Her wings snapped wide, and her fire answered immediately, violet flames erupting outward in a violent pulse that flash-evaporated the water into screaming steam.
Nom-Nom could barely gasp before something slithered around her feet.
Her head snapped down just in time to see it, a thick rope of churning water coiled tight around her ankle, before the deck vanished beneath her feet as the force on the other end pulled.
Nom-Nom wasn't just swept.
She was swung.
The world blurred as her body smashed through the first cannon platform, metal buckling before exploding apart around her as she was swung through it like a projectile.
And then the second, then the third, each impact rattling her bones harder than the last as pain stacked faster than her body could process.
And that's when she snapped.
Her fire didn't just flare; it flooded her, racing through her veins as her wings beat hard enough to crack the air, violet flames detonating outward as the water rope vaporized in an instant.
She skidded across the deck on her side, claws screeching against metal, before finally slamming to a stop and forcing herself upright.
Her vision shook, breath came out as snarls, while her face began to change.
Bone shifted beneath her skin, jaw stretching as her teeth lengthened, cheekbones splitting and reforming as something feral pushed closer to the surface, fire leaking from her mouth in hissing bursts as she threw her head back and -
- AARRHHHR-!
The sound tore across the deck before -
-CRACK-!
Pain exploded as the water rope struck across her face like a whip, catching her square across the cheek and flinging her off her feet.
Nom-Nom hit the deck hard, and before she could even catch a breath, the rope wrapped her ankle again before yanking her forward.
Straight toward Thane.
Who was already moving with an adrenalineized grin as ice surged into his hands, forming into the shape of a massive axe just as he twisted his body, stance set like a batter at the plate, and swung with everything he had.
-CRASH-!
The axe shattered on impact, hitting her square on the face, sending shockwaves through her skull as she slammed into the deck, saved from instant death only by the unnatural durability of a Greater Dragon.
But still, blood ran warm down the slit across her face, as she lay there gaping at what just happened.
And the next second, Nom-Nom screamed, shooting up to her feet with a beat of her three wings as she shoved her fist forward with everything she had and -
-CRACK-!
Thane caught it.
With a wild grin and adrenaline blazing in his eyes, he twisted with her momentum instead of against it, using her own strength to flip her clean off her feet and slammed her onto the deck.
And before she could react-
-SNAP! ARRRAHAGA-!
The shriek tore out of her throat as her arm wrenched the wrong way, the joint dislocating with a sickening crack that sent pain screaming straight into her spine.
Nom-Nom wailed.
Yet Thane didn't stop.
He yanked her forward by the same arm, hauling her up and over his shoulder, and slamming her back down into the deck, up the bed of ice spikes he conjured.
But at the last minute, Nom-Nom beat her wings in blind desperation, blasting outwards a shockwave that hurled her away across the deck while staggering Thane back a step as she skidded to a stop and forced herself upright.
With a snarl, Nom-Nom took a step forward for another swipe at Thane's grin, and that's when she noticed her left arm hanging uselessly at her side.
She stared at it, and when she tried to lift it, nothing answered her intent.
The realization hit harder than the pain itself, as her vision blurred and her breathing stuttered.
Tears welling despite her trying to force them down, because no matter how strong she was supposed to be, in that moment, all she could feel was the helplessness tightening in her chest
"Why…" she whispered, her voice breaking while blood dripped down her chin, "…why can't I beat him? I'm stronger…"
-Tap.
-Tap.
Each step Thane took felt like it landed on her pride as she looked up and saw him walking toward her, breathing steady, mana and frost rolling off him in slow curls as if he hadn't just pushed himself to the edge.
"Nymira," he said calmly, without looking away from her, "... where the hell are the other idiots?"
"Northern, Western, and Eastern Vigils are en route," Nymira replied, her voice carrying across the deck. "ETA in ten minutes."
Thane smiled.
"Ten minutes, huh…" he said, stopping just outside her reach as he met her tear-filled gaze. "Yeah. I can work with that."
But before Thane could take even another step, Nymira's voice cracked through the deck, cutting through the ringing in his ears.
"Captain! I've lost synchronization with Auralis. The last shared sensory data I received…" her voice stuttered, "…was X-97."
For a fraction of a second, Thane didn't react.
His mind was already racing ahead of the words, grasping the implications faster than his body could catch up.
And then-
-BOOOOM-!
Golden fire tore through the night as the command center of Luke's ship detonated outward, screaming as it warped, split, and melted from the blast washing across the deck in a wave of heat and pressure.
And from within that storm of flame and collapsing structure, something moved.
A figure emerged through the fire, untouched by it, her white cloth whipping violently around her as chestnut hair streamed behind her like a banner caught in a gale.
X-97 burst free from the inferno with Auralis clenched in one hand, fingers locked around the Soul's throat.
Her two massive wings, formed entirely of fire, beat only once, sending a flaming shockwave rolling across as her free hand hardened with stone forming around it in layered plates before sharpening into a lance.
She drew the lance back as her violet eyes burned cold.
And just as she was about to end it -
"HEYY!!"
X-97's arm froze mid-motion as her head snapped sideways toward the sound.
And there stood Nom-Nom, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes, blood still dripping down her face, and her left arm still hanging awkwardly by her side...
And yet she was waving her good hand wildly over her head like none of that mattered, stretching a massive grin across her face.
"I am Nom-Nom!"
The silence that followed was… awkward.
X-97 blinked once.
Before her gaze flicked from Nom-Nom to the wrecked deck, to the shattered command center behind her, and finally to Thane standing amid the frost and wreckage like a man who simply refused to fall over.
[Is it just these two?] she thought, incredulous. [By themselves? Absolute idiots!]
She'd assumed some sort of rebel strike, maybe a coordinated extraction unit, something with planning and structure.
Not this.
Behind her, Thane stared at Nom-Nom with the deadpan expression of a man contemplating what led him to this moment.
"…Nom-Nom," he said, "…seriously?"
X-97 turned her attention back to the prey in her grip, stone lance tightening as she prepared to finish what she'd started—
"Hey!"
Her head, once again, snapped back toward the same waving idiot with three wings.
"Master said no killing!"
X-97 closed her eyes and let out a slow breath.
"…Definitely idiots," she muttered under her breath, before glancing between the two of them again. "Still… the least I can do is respect… whatever their supposed plan is."
She descended slightly, then released Auralis without ceremony, dropping the struggling Soul onto the burning, half-melted roof of the command center she had once ruled.
Auralis hit hard, skidding across the now tilted roof as golden fire licked at the edges of her feet.
While X-97 straightened, wings stretching slightly as she turned toward the open ocean, towards the moonlight shimmering across the waves like an open invitation.
All she had to do was fly; her freedom was right there.
And yet-
She glanced back.
And found Nom-Nom was still smiling.
Still standing there waving. with her other arm very obviously dislocated and her tear-stained eyes still shining as she'd just found something wonderful instead of surviving a near-death beating.
"…Pantheon reinforcements will be here any moment now," X-97 said quietly, more to herself than anyone else.
Then, against every logical instinct she had, she beat her wings and drifted back toward the deck.
When she landed in front of Nom-Nom, the eyes of the Chimera, who was at least two heads taller than her, practically sparkled despite the blood covering her face.
"My name is Nom-Nom!" she said again, even louder this time, like the first hadn't landed properly. "What's yours? And you're so beautiful!"
X-97 froze, feeling heat creep up her cheeks before she could stop it as she averted her gaze slightly.
"My name is… X-97," she said, before reaching out and grabbing Nom-Nom's dangling arm and popping it back into place with a twist.
"OW!" Nom-Nom yelped, before frowning at her properly. "Thanks… but that's not a name! Oh well. We'll figure it out later."
X-97 didn't know how to respond to that.
So she didn't.
Instead, the two Pantheon's flagship Chimeras turned together toward their jailers.
And Thane replied with a grin.
He hadn't stopped them while they talked, waved, and introduced themselves.
His objective has long since switched from Contain or Eliminate to Stall till back-up arrives.
And thanks to their little exchange, Thane learned -
Master said no killing.
That little phrase echoed beautifully in his mind.
Thane spread his arms slowly as frost rolled off him in curling wisps. Even the deck beneath his boots was crackling as ice began to spread.
"Don't worry," he said pleasantly as he looked at the two of them. "Once we're done here… I'll make sure both your cells are right beside each other's."